The final solution to the world's problem...

... is to kill an immense number of people, by any means necessary, as soon as possible.

The fundamental problem with the modern world, as I see it, is overpopulation, and, on average, an idiotic population. By removing those with lesser intelligences, lesser physical abilties, less creativity, etc, we will not only come to a point where we will no longer waste our resources on those unfit to receive such benefits of our currently liberal society, we will also come to a point where there are few enough humans alive that the planet itself need not suffer any longer, thus assuring the possibility of the continued existence of humans.

This is an unrealistic goal, of course. It will never happen, for the sole reason that those who do not fall into the category of "intelligent, physically fit, and creative" will never be defeated by the disparate groups of those who do fall into such capacities. As with any movement, political or otherwise, which may end up actually working, and contributing to society, the individuals described above are too intentionally at ends with each other to provide a stronger front.

I am beginning to see four distinct possibilities:

1. The greatest of humans band together to fix the overpopulation problem (not likely);

2. The greatest of humans all decide to do the above, but fight each other about it, and are eventually driven out, sucked up, or killed, by the average man (somewhat more likely);

3. A crisis of some sort causes a change in perspective in the majority of people. An ideal is formed, and the fires of our civilisation are rekindled;

4. Nothing is ever done of any considerable weight or volume. Our society peters out into nothing, ready to give birth to the next, wherever that may come from.

The last is very interesting to me: in the past, new societies have come from other peoples. Rome is the only example of this I can come up with right at this moment, as it is probably far too late for me to be thinking coherently anyway. Perhaps Egypt and Greece count, as well, and the different Dynasties and Empires of mainland Eastern Asia, the acquisition of India by the British Empire (well, not a new society for the world, but new for the area), and other such cases...

Civilizations rise and fall; they tend to regulate themselves. Since we can see the theoretical possibility of controlling these cycles for the better, it is always tempting to try and seize control. Yet it is precisely that mentality, that obsession with control, which got us here in the first place. The only difference today is that we have developed a violent technology wielded by bureaucrats who are immune from all responsibility. We might not get another chance. The big Democracy experiment is proving Plato right - letting the common man run the government is like having a gardener do brain surgery. Seems like a good idea at the time, and then it disintegrates back into a nasty totalitarianism. We don't want a dictator and we don't want a democracy. We want leaders who know what the hell they're doing. Leaders who set an example for the people rather than vice-versa. And we need to be unified on more than social contract in the name of trade.

We'll probably either get #3, or more likely #4: we fade into oblivion while the East takes the throne for a few hundred years. The trouble with empires is that every time culture tries to revive itself through art and protest, it just gets assimilated. But the fact that we're here is good. We're it. It's up to us. There is nobody else. You are one in a mere handful of people who gives a damn. So choose wisely what you damn...

Civilizations rise and fall; they tend to regulate themselves. Since we can see the theoretical possibility of controlling these cycles for the better, it is always tempting to try and seize control. Yet it is precisely that mentality, that obsession with control, which got us here in the first place.

I think that what you're saying here is really crucial and often overlooked. It seems to be a general truth that the more fixated humans (both in the microcosm of the individual, and the macrocosm of societies) become on enforcing their will on reality, the further they really get from their goal (evenness/grace/harmony/goodness of life), even if it appears in a cosmetic way that they've achieved some kind of partial success. We can see that in the individual, an obsession with control often results in neurotic behavior - "obsessive compulsive disorder", for instance... The subject constantly tries to order their surroundings in a way which satisfies their ego and soothes their fears, but more and more issues pop up for them to control. For every "problem" they "solve", five more appear, and they eventually become trapped in a psychotic, paranoid web of their own making.

It has been a long time since I was really interesting in "saving civilization", or "saving the planet". At this point, I'm much more interested in saving certain things from civilization, and preserving them past its temporary extinction, so that in the future, granting a more stable, sane, well-ordered society manifests, they can take root once again.

Yet it is precisely that mentality, that obsession with control, which got us here in the first place.

The big Democracy experiment is proving Plato right - letting the common man run the government is like having a gardener do brain surgery.

The trouble with empires is that every time culture tries to revive itself through art and protest, it just gets assimilated.

You scattered wisdom in with the depression. Like a salad.

I disagree on the first part: I think control is needed to right wrongs.

Obviously, the best goal is cooperation, but that doesn't happen unless everyone is roughly equal in abilities, temperment, values, tendencies, language, culture, intellect, and heritage. You can make a semi-unequal society work with a feudal aristocratic caste system.

In a large society, all attempts which are not esoteric get assimilated for their "cool factor." This is why I stopped listening to cool music, reading cool books, or saying cool things. I started a family and got a real education instead.

It's why I often refer to cool people who have nothing else going on as future cotton pickers.